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“I've Been Known” by Denise Duhamel
Poetry 180: A Poem a Day for American High Schools, Hosted by Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2001-2003

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I’ve Been Known

to spread it on thick to shoot off my mouth to get it off my chest
     to tell him where
     to get off
to stay put to face the music to cut a shine to go under to sell
     myself short to play
     myself down
to paint the town to fork over to shell out to shoot up to pull a
     fast one to go haywire
     to take a shine to
to be stuck on to glam it up to vamp it up to get her one better to
     eat a little higher
     on the hog
to win out to get away with to go to the spot to make a stake to 
     make a stand to 
     stand for something to stand up for
to snow under to slip up to go for it to take a stab at it to try out
     to go places to play
     up to get back at
to size up to stand off to slop over to be solid with to lose my
     shirt to get myself off
     to get myself off the hook

—Denise Duhamel

From Margie/The American Journal of Poetry
Volume 2, 2004

Copyright 2004 Denise Duhamel
All rights reserved.

Reprinted by permission of Denise Duhamel. Copyright 2004 by Denise Duhamel. For further permissions information, contact Denise Duhamel, 2201 South Ocean Dr., #203, Hollywood, FL 33019, [email protected].

Poetry 180

About the Poet

Denise Duhamel (b.1961) is remembered as a poet who wrote popular verse about the common man and the issues encountered in daily life. She is the author of over a dozen novels, chapbooks, and poetry collections, including Blowout (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013).

Learn more about Denise Duhamel at The Poetry Foundation.